New version of PMP Exam in 2021 - Feedback from the people who took PMP pilot exam in March 2020

Thanks Alok for the details - this is great feedback for PMP candidates who might not be able to take the exam prior to December 31!

Hi Kiron, Milena, Juan, and Thomas

Thank you very much for your wishes and for showing interest in this thread. I was on a short vacation so I was not able to reply earlier. In this answer, I am attempting to answer all the questions:

1. The PMP pilot exam had questions from three-domains - People (42%), Processes (50%), and Business Environment (8%). To answer Juan, no the questions were not separated according to domains or the process groups.

2. In this point, I am talking about how I prepared for the pilot exam. Since I knew that 50% of exam questions will be from the Process domain, I started with Rita Mulcahy's PMP Exam Prep (ninth edition) book. I read this book completely once and did a quick revision to memorize the key concepts and formulas. Next, I practiced solving questions on projectmanagement.com (PM Challenge). This is an excellent source to prepare for the PMP exam and as a PMI member, we have free access to it. I noticed that solving questions on PM Challenge also prepared me for the 'People domain'. Also, in February and March, there was a beta version of projectmanagement.com that was specifically being developed to provide PMP aspirants to prepare for the test. I found one new question each day on that link. In addition to these two resources, on 8th March (just a day before the exam) I got an email from PMI notifying me of an On-demand online course launched to prepare PMP Pilot exam participants. The exact course name was 'PMI Authorized On-demand PMP® Exam Prep Pilot', I could not find this course on PMI portal today. I completed this course just a day before the exam. I used these three resources to prepare for my PMP Pilot exam. I got the impression that PMI is keen on developing resources for aspirants of PMP and other certification exams, so I believe, in future people can find enough resources through PMI rather than going to third party institutions.

3. In this point, I am talking about the practical changes in the format of the exam. The questions were not separated by domains, tasks, or process groups. For the 'Process' domain, the questions were very much similar to what I studied from Rita's book. So the Process domain questions are mostly unchanged. The 'People' domain questions were plentiful, however, I believe, those were easy to comprehend after my preparation (I scored above targe on this domain with my humble preparation). For the business environment domain, there were few questions on ethics and compliance, etc. Regarding the format of questions, there were still many questions with 4 choices and we have to pick the one correct one. However, there were many questions with 4 or more than 4 options with 2 or more correct answers. There were also matchmaking type questions where we had to pick a statement from one column and drop it over the correct statement from other column. In addition, there were at least one or two numerical questions for which I had to write the answer using the keyboard.

4. In this point, I am sharing my general experience and how I see this change from my perspective. Two years ago, I did my master's thesis on the topic of project management. I got to know about PMI at that point. I talked to my professor about PMI and the resources of PMI on project management. My professor already knew about PMI and the PMI's approach towards project management. My professor did not seem to be convinced by the project management framework that PMI was using. His views were that PMI is 'putting things inside the boxes' and he was more towards the viewpoint that each project is different and there cannot be one solution fits all kinds of Project Management approach. At that point, I resonated with his viewpoint and I am thankful to him for teaching me about Project Management from a different viewpoint. In my opinion, the old (current) version of the PMP exam is very heavy on processes and it does specify one particular way of managing a project. This cannot be true as the projects can be very different in different industries. The new version, however, has a somewhat balanced approach. In the new version, there is a greater emphasis on getting cooperation from people in order to achieve the project objective. The 'people' domain being so heavy also lays the ground for the PM to consider that the 'Process' can be changed to accommodate different needs of the project.

5. To answer questions about agile/hybrid PM methodologies - I found quite many questions on agile methodologies, most of them were situational questions with an emphasis on 'people'. There were a few questions as well to test whether I know the agile PM processes.

6. I believe, the new version of the PMP exam has a lot to teach about leadership traits instead of teaching one particular way of project management.

Hope my answer is helpful. Please share your thoughts on my answer.

Alok Jain

Hi Kiron, Milena, Juan, and Thomas

Thank you very much for your wishes and for showing interest in this thread. I was on a short vacation so I was not able to reply earlier. In this answer, I am attempting to answer all the questions:

1. The PMP pilot exam had questions from three-domains - People (42%), Processes (50%), and Business Environment (8%). To answer Juan, no the questions were not separated according to domains or the process groups.

2. In this point, I am talking about how I prepared for the pilot exam. Since I knew that 50% of exam questions will be from the Process domain, I started with Rita Mulcahy's PMP Exam Prep (ninth edition) book. I read this book completely once and did a quick revision to memorize the key concepts and formulas. Next, I practiced solving questions on projectmanagement.com (PM Challenge). This is an excellent source to prepare for the PMP exam and as a PMI member, we have free access to it. I noticed that solving questions on PM Challenge also prepared me for the 'People domain'. Also, in February and March, there was a beta version of projectmanagement.com that was specifically being developed to provide PMP aspirants to prepare for the test. I found one new question each day on that link. In addition to these two resources, on 8th March (just a day before the exam) I got an email from PMI notifying me of an On-demand online course launched to prepare PMP Pilot exam participants. The exact course name was 'PMI Authorized On-demand PMP® Exam Prep Pilot', I could not find this course on PMI portal today. I completed this course just a day before the exam. I used these three resources to prepare for my PMP Pilot exam. I got the impression that PMI is keen on developing resources for aspirants of PMP and other certification exams, so I believe, in future people can find enough resources through PMI rather than going to third party institutions.

3. In this point, I am talking about the practical changes in the format of the exam. The questions were not separated by domains, tasks, or process groups. For the 'Process' domain, the questions were very much similar to what I studied from Rita's book. So the Process domain questions are mostly unchanged. The 'People' domain questions were plentiful, however, I believe, those were easy to comprehend after my preparation (I scored above targe on this domain with my humble preparation). For the business environment domain, there were few questions on ethics and compliance, etc. Regarding the format of questions, there were still many questions with 4 choices and we have to pick the one correct one. However, there were many questions with 4 or more than 4 options with 2 or more correct answers. There were also matchmaking type questions where we had to pick a statement from one column and drop it over the correct statement from other column. In addition, there were at least one or two numerical questions for which I had to write the answer using the keyboard.

4. In this point, I am sharing my general experience and how I see this change from my perspective. Two years ago, I did my master's thesis on the topic of project management. I got to know about PMI at that point. I talked to my professor about PMI and the resources of PMI on project management. My professor already knew about PMI and the PMI's approach towards project management. My professor did not seem to be convinced by the project management framework that PMI was using. His views were that PMI is 'putting things inside the boxes' and he was more towards the viewpoint that each project is different and there cannot be one solution fits all kinds of Project Management approach. At that point, I resonated with his viewpoint and I am thankful to him for teaching me about Project Management from a different viewpoint. In my opinion, the old (current) version of the PMP exam is very heavy on processes and it does specify one particular way of managing a project. This cannot be true as the projects can be very different in different industries. The new version, however, has a somewhat balanced approach. In the new version, there is a greater emphasis on getting cooperation from people in order to achieve the project objective. The 'people' domain being so heavy also lays the ground for the PM to consider that the 'Process' can be changed to accommodate different needs of the project.

5. To answer questions about agile/hybrid PM methodologies - I found quite many questions on agile methodologies, most of them were situational questions with an emphasis on 'people'. There were a few questions as well to test whether I know the agile PM processes.

6. I believe, the new version of the PMP exam has a lot to teach about leadership traits instead of teaching one particular way of project management.

Hope my answer is helpful. Please share your thoughts on my answer.

Alok Jain